Kyle Edmund's swagger and self-belief will take him into world top ten, says former Australian Open champion

Kyle Edmund’s newfound swagger and self-belief will carry him all the way to the world’s top ten, in the view of the former Australian Open champion Thomas Johansson.

Johansson spent this morning hitting with Edmund on the practice court. Afterwards, he declared himself overwhelmed by the power of Edmund’s forehand, and predicted more significant scalps to come.

“It’s been very impressive,” said Johansson of Edmund’s four wins in Melbourne to date. “I had the privilege to hit with him today because he’s coached by a Swedish guy, Fredrik [Rosengren], who I know very well.

“His forehand is huge, it’s massive. I think he’s also improved his serve a lot. He’s more accurate and I think he’s using it a lot better than he did before. I think he has a big potential to get into the top ten.”

After ousting Andreas Seppi on Sunday to reach his first grand-slam quarter-final, Edmund is guaranteed to claim a new career-high ranking of around No. 35 next week. And should he somehow get past third seed Grigor Dimitrov on Rod Laver Arena tomorrow, that would boost him into the mid-20s.

Dimitrov – who produced some superb tennis of his own to beat Nick Kyrgios last night – will start as the clear favourite. But Johansson is confident that, win or lose, Edmund is already on the right track.

“He’s taken a big step in the last couple of months,” Johansson said. “He had a great run in Brisbane as well. What I like about Kyle now is that he shows a lot more emotions on the court. He’s much more positive and I think that has made a big difference.”

Johansson, who nipped in to win his lone grand slam as the 16th seed here in 2002, is one of the few Swedish players of his generation who has never been coached by Rosengren, a figure of vast experience who entered this field in 1988. Rosengren’s cv lists Magnus Norman, Jonas Bjorkman and Mario Ancic among his many famous ex-clients.

As Johansson explained today, “Fredrik is one of the best coaches in the world. He’s very tough. He’s been in this business for many, many years, so I think he has great knowledge. Pretty well all the players he’s coached have reached the top ten. And I think he’s on a good run with Kyle at the moment.

“There are of course certain areas where Kyle has to improve a little bit, like his volleys. He is hitting so strong from the baseline and he can learn how to how to come in and hit maybe one volley rather than two. Because he’s so powerful from the baseline, he’s a lot of fun to watch.”

And what about the 17 sets – lasting a fraction under 12 hours – that Edmund has put himself through over the last week? Only Dominic Thiem has spent anything like the same amount of time on court at this event. Won’t there be a danger of fatigue?

Johansson grinned. “He is a beast. He is very, very strong. So I think he’ll cope. But Grigor is playing really well at the moment. Yesterday he has shown everybody that he is No. 3 in the world, that he plays really well when he needs to. It’s going to be a tough game for Kyle because Grigor is a master of breaking the rhythm, he is a little bit like Roger [Federer] in that sense, so Kyle has to be ready and he has to know exactly what to do.

“This year it’s quite open. I always enjoy Rafa [Nadal] and Roger playing the final but of course it would be fun to have someone else as well. I like what I see now, the youngsters are coming up, which I’ve been waiting for for a couple of years. I love to see Kyle, I love to see Nick, I love to see [Hyeon] Chung.”

Edmund has already faced Dimitrov once this season, in the Brisbane quarter-final three weeks ago. It was a closely fought contest, which only titled decisively in Dimitrov’s favour when Edmund rolled an ankle three games before the end.

Speaking after Edmund’s fourth-round win over Seppi on Sunday, Rosengren identified that Brisbane match as the best performance he has yet seen from his new charge – at least until the injury struck. “I loved the way he played the third set, and I loved the way he stepped up in the second set tie-break,” said Rosengren. “That was Kyle on his best.”

So what will Rosengren say before Edmund walks out for his first appearance on Melbourne Park’s main court? “I will tell him of my experience. I have had six guys go deep here, and Magnus was in the semi-final. I have had players telling me they’re so nervous they can’t go on. And I have to tell Kyle that is fine, that is normal, to feel like that.

“If you don’t tell me how you feel I can’t help you. So I hope he will open up and tell me exactly how he feels, so I can help him. With my experience, that’s the only thing I can do.”

The British contingent in Melbourne has now shrunk to two players – in the senior ranks at least – after Jamie Murray and his partner Latisha Chan were eliminated from the mixed doubles in the second round. Murray won the mixed-doubles event at both the last two grand slams, playing alongside the now-retired Martina Hingis. But despite forming a new team with Chan, Hingis’s former partner in the women’s doubles, he was unable to prevent a 7-6, 6-4 defeat at the hands of Marc Polmans and Storm Sanders.

The other Briton still standing is Davis Cup regular Dominic Inglot, who moved into the quarter-finals of the men’s doubles today when he and his partner Marcus Daniell beat Hans Podlipnik-Castillo and Andrei Vasilevski in straight sets: 6-4, 6-3.